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QMI Agency

Oct 22, 2013

, Last Updated: 4:13 PM ET

A Iraq war veteran's massive SpongeBob SquarePants headstone has been removed after a Cincinnati cemetery deemed it inappropriate. And the family is livid.

Sgt. Kimberly Walker, a huge fan of the cartoon character, was murdered in February and the family said they received prior approval from the Spring Grove Cemetery to erect the 6-foot tall, 4-foot-wide monument, along with another for her twin sister's plot.

The giant stone SpongeBobs are featured in military uniform, with the women's names and ranks.

After finally being erected this month, the cemetery told the family the employee who initially approved them made a mistake.

"The monument does not fit within Spring Grove Cemetery guidelines, was not approved by senior management and cannot remain here," Gary Freytag, CEO of Spring Grove Cemetery, told WLWT News.

Freytag told the U.K. Guardian that Spring Grove is prepared to reimburse the family the $26,000 for the headstones, and even pay for new ones.

"I feel terrible that it got to this point but I'm hoping we can come out at the other end of the tunnel with a solution," Freytag told the newspaper.

Deborah Walker told WLWT News she bought six plots so her family could remain together eternally, and the SpongeBob SquarePants monuments were part of that deal.

"I feel like, and we all feel like, SpongeBob should stay there. We bought the plots, all six of them. We put the monuments there, we did what we had to do and they said they could provide that service to us."